Shaman Misfortune
by Shax
Summary: Warning: Doesn't conform to official RKA storyline!! (IS there one?) Sparkster's refined inner karma is threatened when he is manipulated by a powerful and benevolent being. Just part one so far.


SHAMAN MISFORTUNE 

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Part one: The Lizard King 

PROLOGUE: 

He was seated, arms crossed, legs crossed, eyes closed, on a small, square mat. He was humming a slow, relatively indifferent tune. The opossum was completely at peace, his mind clear and his troubles at rest. A few feet away from him was a suit of armour. Fashioned from medieval plate mail, the armour came equipped with a jetpack, and a large broadsword sat not too far away. The strange attire could be worn by one person, and one person only. Sir Sparkster Ringtail was the Rocket Knight.   
This was a very important title carried by one individual at a time in the kingdom of Elhorn. Sparkster had inherited the title from his father, and someday would pass it on to his own son. The Rocket Knight was an official enforcer - paid a small wage to basically keep the king's peace of mind. He had been trained for it, and he was supposed to be ready to die for his country at the wink of an eye. He was.   
Somebody walked into the room and rapped lightly on the open door. A skinny salamander. He looked at the meditating opossum and cleared his throat.   
"Sparkster.."   
The possum did not move a muscle. He continued to hum.   
"Sparkster.. hey.." the salamander persited, tapping Sparkster on the shoulder. The humming stopped, and the Rocket Knight opened one eye and looked at the intruder.   
"Spark, the king sent me to get you.."   
"The king... I hope he's not disbanding me.." Sparkster replied drearily. "There's been no new work for months... I've been flat broke, and it looks like I'm not needed.."   
"Far from it, Spark!" the salamander replied. "In fact, it IS a job! I mean, I'm just a squire, he never tells me anything, but I heard him talking... somebody's travelling here from the East, and he thinks it's the Lizard King!"   
"The lizard hoodat?" Spark asked, raising an eyebrow.   
"The Lizard King... Detrious Kimodo." the salamander replied. "He's this powerful shaman, and he runs a kingdom that thrives by crushing other kingdoms! And if his armies are coming this way..."   
"Sounds pretty bad.." the opossum butted in. "But it means another bag of gold for me if I check it out.. fetch my armour, will you?"   
The salamander nodded and grabbed the suit of armour. He strained, but he couldn't budge it. Spark chuckled, walked over and picked it up with little hassle. "It's a little heavy." he admitted. "Right then.. up up and away!" "Can you stop them?" the squire asked. Spark turned around to him.   
"That's my job." 

Far away... an army was approaching. Heavily armoured reptiles.. some travelling on foot, some aided by war machines. But all of them carried weapons. And, behind them all was a massive fortress... on wheels. Slow-moving and dark, the fortress seemed almost to carry storm clouds along with it. Inside the dark, moving palace, two shadows walked along a corridor. One of them was a tall, bulky, heavily attired lizard, and the other was a short armoured opossum.. similar in appearance to Sparkster, but with a much darker atmosphere.   
"You had better not be wasting my time, herald." the lizard murmured, walking with the aid of a scepter. The wooden stick held a large, glowing orb on the top.   
"No WAY, my Lord!" the opossum replied. "Have I ever steered you wrong?"   
"Axel, you have steered me wrong on many an occasion." the lizard stated.   
"So I've made a few bumps on the road.." the opossum admitted. "But believe me.. you are going to LOVE Elhorn!"   
"I certainly hope so, my herald." the lizard said. "For your sake, you had better pray that I am impressed."   
"There's just one TEENY problem.." the other figure said, scratching his ear. "There's a Rocket Knight."   
The lizard raised an eyebrow. "You informed me that you were the one and only..." he said. "Axel Ringtail.. the Rocket Knight.."   
"Well, this guy's a bit of a big shot wannabe." the other figure, Axel, replied. "He's the protector of the kingdom.. we'll have to scratch him out first."   
"If he's any less than you, I can crush him under my little toe." the lizard commented. "As I nearly did you."   
"Don't remind me..." 

Sparkster squinted in the light. "Perhaps some negotiations are in order." he stated. "Their failure to declare war beforehand might suggest they come in peace.."   
"Or war!" the little king replied, shaking a little. "Looks like war to me! I hate war! Oh.. oh why do they want to kill me?"   
"Let me speak to them, it might be alright." Sparkster consoled him.   
"Nobody speaks to the Lizard King.." the King murmured. "If it IS the Lizard King! Maybe it's not! Maybe we're all saved! Yippee!!"   
"Or maybe Ol' Kimodo HAS come to Elhorn.. it could be one heck of a war on our hands.." Sparkster murmured.   
"Maybe one of you should be optimistic, the other pessimistic, and stick to that.." A voice at the doorway said. Sparkster turned, and for a moment was startled by the beauty of the girl standing at the doorway... not the love-kind of beauty, Sparkster never felt that way about anybody.. but the beauty of her attire. For, she was the princess of Elhorn, dressed from neck to toe in the finest clothing on the continent.   
"Your magesty.." Sparkster acknowledged, doing the bare minimum salutation legally required when a royal entered the room.   
"Ah, my daughter! My daughter!" The king shouted, leaping onto a chair to speak to her eye-to-eye. He was less than half the height of the Princess.. the height difference was ridiculous, the king was a downright midget, and his daughter was like the flagpole which jutted from the top of the castle. Shorter-than-normal, and taller-than-normal. Sparkster couldn't help but think that the genes had somehow evened themself out after realising their mistake. He smiled to himself, and looked back out the window. This time he raised binoculars. "I'm going out." he announced. "If I don't return, evacuate.. that's all I can suggest. We've never had an army this big on our hands."   
"Do return soon.." the Princess, Allisha Doe, replied. "I would hate for my father and I to be entangled in such a war. Although I've no doubt my fiance, the great Sacchius Bardot, will lead our kingdom to victory, if you happen to fail, good knight."   
The princess pranced delicately past Sparkster, who frowned when her back was turned. "Sacchius Bardot!" he repeated, sarcastically, accenting the "O" and rolling the "R". If the Princess heard it, she didn't indicate. Sparkster crawled out the open window, looked back once to salute, then pulled something behind his back. His rocket pack started up with a firey blast. The king and princess stumbled back, the latter wailing something angrily.... but the Rocket Knight was already gone. 

"RAJA!" The Lizard King boomed. There was silence for a little while, then a head poked out of a doorway. A short skink-lizard with a turban. "You.. called for me Sire?" he hissed.   
"Yes." Kimodo said back. "Do you see this?" He held up a long stick with a huge orb, and pointed it towards the skink. An image began to form on the orb.. an image of Sparkster the Rocket Knight, blasting through the air.   
"What the heck's he doing?" the skink hissed.   
"I've no idea, but he's heading in our direction." Kimodo growled. "I fear... no, I fear nothing.... I _ASSUME_ that he is the fabled Rocket Knight of Elhorn. I want you to intercept him, Raja.. bring him to me, if you can take him alive. If not, his loss. Now go."   
Raja saluted, and bounded off.   
"HERALD!" Kimodo roared. "MY HERALD! AXEL, GET IN HERE!"   
There was a blasting sound of a jetpack, and Axel skidded into the room, grinning oddly.   
"Is THIS the one whom you warned me about?" the giant Lizard King asked, showing the armoured opossum the image in the orb. Axel looked closely. "Yeah... yeah, that's 'im!" he announced. "Don't let 'im get away! We gotta crush that little weasel!"   
"Nobody escapes the Lizard King, Axel. Nobody." 

Sparkster blasted his way over the familiar landscape of the Plains of Elhorn. It didn't take long to approach the army... Lizards. Millions of them, heavily armed, heavily armoured. Marching in expert formation. War machines stomped through the tall grass behind them, and, coming into view, was an enormous vehicle, shaped like a fortress.   
"This looks like a Lizard King alright." the Rocket Knight announced. He glanced at something on his wrist. "Not too much fuel left, enough to get me home again." he said to himself. "But not enough to look around. Time to get down to business..." He no sooner finished speaking, before rocks were being flung at him.   
"Cripes!" he exclaimed, manuvouring as best he could. "They don't like me hangin' around too much! So much for 'We come in peace', if I can't get to this guy I might have to give up and turn back!"   
One of the rocks hit him in the side. An arrow punctured his arm. It didn't go into the armour far enough to break skin, but the long handle affected his weight proportion and therefore navigation. He threw his other arm out to the side to balance, but that just affected his ability to steer in a negative way. While he was vulnerable (and unable to believe how easily he'd been caught off-guard), Sparkster was hit with a net. It was weighted on the bottom, and he couldn't remain airborne. When he was low enough, he was leapt on. Somebody disabled his jetpack. Somebody else un-holstered and stole his sword. Somebody else removed his helmet, letting his blood-red hair blow in the wind as he struggled. Somebody else bashed him over the head with something hard. He was barely aware of the 'crack' sound before all sound ceased, and light faded to dark. 

CHAPTER ONE: 

"Sparkster.. Hey, Spark!"   
Sparkster looked up. He saw his father above him.. hovering with the aid of his jetpack. In his infant mind, it appeared magic to him. He giggled a childish giggle and extended a chubby arm to his Dad. His father chuckled, and floated downward.   
"You like it, huh Spark?" he asked. When he was low enough, he ruffled Spark's red hair. The child smiled and began to laugh. "Soon it'll be yours, Spark." the Rocket Knight announced. "When my time has passed, you'll be the next Rocket Knight.. you'll protect this kingdom."   
"Can I help you, Daddy?" Sparkster asked, hopefully. His father chuckled.   
"Why, sure you can!" he announced. He reached behind his back, and took a small wooden sword out of seemingly nowhere. Sparkster also thought this to be magic. Everything his father did was magic.   
The sword was just two chunks of wood nailed together in a cross shape, but to Sparkster, it resembled Excaliber.. or the sword of a Rocket Knight. It was the most powerful weapon in the universe. It had to be - his Dad made it.   
He had no sooner taken the beautiful weapon from his father, before somebody knocked it out of his hand, screaming "MINE!!!". The force knocked Sparkster into the dirt.   
"AXEL!" his father boomed. "Don't do that! Help your older brother up!" But the child just snatched up the sword, and pointed it towards Sparkster offensively. "En guarde!" he announced, completely oblivious to the meaning of the words. Sparkster picked himself up and tried to wrestle the sword from Axel.   
"Sparkster!" his father yelled. "Sparkster! Stop that! Sparkster! Wake up, Sparkster! Sparkster, WAKE..... 

*** 

UP, YOU INFIDEL!!"   
Sparkster shot up. He was wearing nothing but a singlet and cloth shorts... which was what he had previously been wearing under several layers of chain and plate armours.   
"Ah, you're awake! I knew you would.."   
Sparkster at once realised where he was... well, almost. He knew he wasn't in Elhorn, and when he turned, he realised there was a gigantic lizard's face taking up the entire wall. He fell backward. The wall was a huge crystal, with smaller crystals lining everything. In every face of every crystal was the same lizard, grinning back at him.   
"I don't believe we've met!" the face in the crystal announced. "I am Detrious Kimodo.. known to low-life squirming pond scum such as yourself as The Lizard King!"   
"Charmed, I'm sure!" Sparkster replied. "Why, I was just on my way to talk to you, Mister Kimodo."   
A crystal floated down towards him from behind, and the lizard began to talk again, thirty cenimeters from the back of his shoulder. The surprise nearly knocked Spark over again, but he kept his composure, and stared the floating crystal in the eye as it spoke.   
"Is that so, Rocket Knight? Is that so?"   
"It most certainly is!" Sparkster replied. "I'm here on behalf of Elhorn, Sir. We are more than a little concerned about your armed forces stomping over our grass so freely, and moreso about your apparent hostility.."   
"Hostile? ME?" Kimodo asked. He looked pained. The expression lasted less than a second before it was replaced by an evil grin. "Hostility, never! Hostility requires some form of attack, wheras I am going to give you a perfectly good chance to surrender before I do any such thing! It is the... nice way to dominate a kingdom, if you know what I mean."   
"I'm afraid I don't, Kimodo." Sparkster replied, frowning. "An army is an army."   
"Indeed it is!" Kimodo snapped back. "But MY army is THE army! To resist us is... simply put, suicide, Oh Rocket Knight. So.. maybe you can help me! Assist me to... get the message across to your stupid king. I just know the little weakling will submit."   
"Help you?" Sparkster asked. "I'm afraid you've forgotten which side I belong to."   
"Oh.. you WILL help me, Oh Rocket Knight." Kimodo snarled. "I think you will find it... irrisistable. In time, in time. Right now, you should be on your way back to Elhorn! Tell your king... tell him he has twenty-four hours. After that time, I will attack, and I WILL emerge victorious. He either submits the easy way, or submits the HARD way, but he WILL SUBMIT, Rocket Knight. Do you understand?"   
Sparkster clenched his fists tightly, shrank his face into a scowl, and nodded.   
"Good! We have reached agreement!" the lizard boomed. "Now go! Fly away!" "My rocket pack would help." Sparkster retorted. "I'm not Superma..." But the opossum got no more words out. He fell into a dead faint, mid-sentance, as the crystals in the room glowed brightly an eerie blue light. 

When he awoke, he was flying. Not comfortably, either. He had been flung from a slingshot or something. He was losing velocity, too. The shock of waking up as a living torpedo had silenced him and numbed his brain to the obvious possibility of great pain apon hitting the ground. He learned that lesson on impact.   
He landed on his rear end, providing a small amount of padding for the most violent impact. Pain still ripped through his body, though, and caused him to cry out.   
Then the first bounce. He was flung fowards and spun upside-down, rendering him dizzy and helpless.   
The second impact.. he landed on the back of his neck. This was extremely painful, and for a moment afterward, Sparkster thought "Oh dear God now I'm quadraplegic."   
The second bounce. This was more of a roll.. he rolled through the long grass, just beginning to regain his senses about things.   
The third impact.. it happened when he struck a tree, stomach-first, arms shooting out ahead of him. It winded him, but perhaps not as much as it could have. For, he was wearing his armour. Kimodo had at least granted him the return of his armour, rocket pack and sword.   
A few minutes passed, and Sparkster just sat there, thinking. He had spoken to Kimodo, as he had hoped to, and now he had been sent   
(flung)   
back to the city of Elhorn to announce the bad news. The Lizard King was hostile.   
"And the king will submit." the Rocket Knight thought, unsure of whether this thought comforted or disturbed him.   
"The short, frightened little nervous wreck will submit instantly. There will be no retalliation, not against the Lizard King. There will be no more Elhorn.. he'll give up." 

"WE WILL NOT SURRENDER!" the king shouted. Sparkster choked on the mouthful of water he had taken from the royal pitcher.   
"Wh-hat?" he asked, in between violent coughs. One of the King's ever-so-nice guards gave him a helpful slap on the back that practically sent him sprawling across the room.   
"We will not go down without a fight!" the king announced. "My daughter opened my eyes while you were away, Rocket Knight! She explained how my kingdom can only grow stronger if we rise against our enemies!"   
"Thanks Princess." Sparkster mumbled under his breath, sarcastically. He wondered if perhaps he was becoming a coward.. but he had seen the lizard army. He had seen it with his own eyes. Three quarters of that army could probably lounge back, have a beer, read a book, and still the rest would crush Elhorn with little trouble.   
Allisha Doe, Her Most Wise and Troublesome Magesty, walked into the room at that moment, and Sparkster bowed down absently.. more a habit than a concious action. The princess was followed into the room by her stuck-up and extremely nosey boyfriend, the "great warrior", Sir Sacchius Bardot. Sparkster didn't acknowledge his presence. He found it better to pretend the lanky buck wasn't there at all.   
"You'll lead the first attack, Knight!" the king announced.   
"I'd be honored, sir." Sparkster replied. "Though I still think that...."   
"Not you! HIM!" the king protested, waving a finger at Sacchius.   
"Oh........ him." Sparkster replied.   
"Dearest apologies, Sparky." Sacchius chuckled. "Not this time.. but you'll be able to lead an army when you've reached my level."   
"Indeed." Sparkster snapped back. "And do try to keep the gloating and self-pride to a bare minimum during this journey. I would hate our warriors to gain so much well-deserved trust in your powerful ability that they let their guard down."   
Allisha opened her mouth in a "how dare you speak to him like that" way, but Sacchius just put a hand on her chest and held her back with a "I'll handle this" motion. (Sparkster could read these upper class types like a book.)   
"Listen Sparky!" Sacchius threatened, waving a finger at the Rocket Knight. "If you think you have more experience in combat than me, kid, you are SADLY MISTAKEN! I was on the battlefield while YOU were in DIAPERS! You know I can prove it? You know how I was rewarded for this service? LOOKY HERE, SMARTIE! FIFTY   
("oh no, here come the badges", Sparkster thought)   
BADGES!! FIFTY of them, every one of them rewarded by a KING!"   
He flung his vest open, revealing a library of glittering gold emblems, each one attached to a ribbon, which was pinned to the inside of his clothing.   
"Thanks for, once again, showing me your vast array of trinkets." Sparkster replied. "But please don't call me 'Sparky'.. my brother used to call me that, and it's terribly annoying. You make the effort to say 'Spark', and it's only an extra syllable either way. May as well say it right."   
"Are you trying to be smart with me?" Sacchius demanded. "Are you being smart, you smug son-of-a-rat?"   
"Please, please!" the king complained. "Don't argue! Just go! Save my kingdom! Gather an army!"   
"He's right." Sacchius announced. "Sparkster is very argumentative, Magesty. I should have known better than to play along with his game. It will not happen again."   
"Play along with his game." Sparkster thought to himself. "Cute. Suck up to the king at my expense."   
Out loud, he said "My apologies too, sire. I'll be off immediately." 

Detrious Kimodo stood in the darkness, robes swimming in a non-existant breeze like snakes.. watching the city of Elhorn like a hawk. Another figure entered the room and cleared his throat.   
"I beg your pardon.. sir." Axel said.   
The giant Lizard King turned his head ever so slightly, so that just his eye was visible under the dark robes, glaring at the opossum.   
"I heard you captured the Rocket Knight." Axel announced.   
"I did." Kimodo growled.   
"And I heard you let him go again." Axel announced.   
"I did." Kimodo growled.   
Silence.   
After about thirty seconds, Axel raised an eyebrow and moved his hand in a little circle. "Aaaaand there is an explanation to this I am presuming?"   
"I don't have to explain myself to you." Kimodo pointed out.   
"Well, of course you don't HAVE to.." Axel replied "But I'm sure it helps when I grovel, right?"   
"I USED HIM, Axel, as a messenger." Kimodo announced. "I gave Elhorn a chance to give themselves up. I always give them a chance."   
"Hey, hey, fair enough, fair enough!" Axel chuckled. "But uh... what ever happened to all the 'destroy Sparkster first' plan we worked out?"   
"Are you questioning me?" Kimodo boomed. "If you are questioning me, Axel, it would be a terrible pity! Because I have no use for a herald who questions orders! A herald who questions orders drags me down! And anyone who drags me down is eliminated."   
"Hey, no way!" Axel protested. "I was just curious, is all! No, your plan.. uh, whatever it is.. is very good! Really! Actually, it's BETTER than the other one! MUCH better! You're a genius!"   
"Good." Kimodo replied. "But I don't take praise very well, either. It would be perhaps better of you not to say anything at all, and to go back to your little room and wait for orders."   
"Yesindeedy!" Axel replied, making an "O" with his thumb and forefinger. He turned to leave.   
"Oh, and Axel.." Kimodo called. The opossum turned his head. "Yah?"   
"Next time." Kimodo replied. "Next time he is sighted, the Rocket Knight will be destroyed."   
"Excellent.." 

CHAPTER TWO: 

"A WAR?? No WAY!" The salamander declared.   
"Looks that way, Pipper." Sparkster replied. "I'm gathering an army now, in fact. It won't be a direct attack, but we're just going to camp out. See if anything happens."   
"But.. if something DOES happen.." the salamander, Pipper, began. Sparkster replied with a nod. "Batten down the hatches." 

*** 

"They appear to be fortifying, sir!" a guard announced.   
"They're WHAT?" the king asked, a little jumpy.   
"Standing still." the guard said. "Surrounding us and creating a tight barricade. They have the advantage, sire, it would not serve us well to attack them. I think they're waiting for your answer." 

*** 

It was dark when the Elhorn army set up their first camp.   
Sparkster banged a tent peg into the ground with the butt of his sword, while the other soldiers did the same. One of them, Hugo (a stumpy warthog) walked up to the Rocket Knight. "You've seen 'em." he said. "How many are there?"   
"Just between you and me, Hugh.. millions." Sparkster replied.   
"You're kidding me!" Hugo announced.   
"That I'm not, Hugh." Sparkster said. "We're not winning this war.. we'll have to come to some agreement or something."   
"Since when have you been a pessimist?" another soldier, Vector, asked. The tall crocodile had his sword in one hand, and a pair of headphones in the other. (obviously not planning on remaining very alert during this camp)   
"I'm just being realistic, Vec." Sparkster announced. "The armies of Elhorn, Mobitropolis and probably a hundred other kingdoms combined would have a hard time winning this battle."   
"Are you kidding? WE'LL BLOW THEM off the FACE of this PLANET!" shouted Sacchius. He was right behind Sparkster and had overheard him. "If you don't think we can do this, Sparky, you can get outta my army!"   
"I'm staying." Sparkster protested. "And I'm protecting this kingdom one way or another." He put his head down and thought "Even if it means going back there and talking to that monster again." 

And that's exactly what he did. 

Later that night, he sneaked out of his tent. Everybody was asleep, but he had lay awake.. thinking. Indeed, the kingdom of Elhorn was trapped between a rock and a hard place. Sparkster assumed that there must be an alternative choice. Nobody had but one need in the entire universe.. the Rocket Knight attempted to imagine reasons that Detrious Kimodo might spare Elhorn.. how he could make it worth his while. But Kimodo was very strong, and apparently powerful in more ways than one. There was only one way to find out what he wanted - ask him in person.   
It was only when Sparkster approached the location that he realised what the Lizard King was doing - he had created a barricade. A wall of soldiers that probably surrounded the entire kingdom. They were quick to attack, too. Sparkster put his jetpack into overdrive and evaded the spears and catapaults as best he could. A few of them saw their target, but it wasn't enough to bring him down. He continued on his path and searched for a place to touch down on Kimodo's fortress. 

"They have decided to go against me!" Kimodo shouted, pointing at a giant crystal which served as a viewing monitor for practically anything the lizard wanted. A vision of the King's raiding party could be seen.   
Axel, who was leaning in a corner, grinned.   
"Well, too bad for them, eh? Let's teach 'em a lesson. Wipe this silly Elhorn off the face of the map!"   
Kimodo didn't reply. He simply stared. There was a vision of a buck and a doe talking by the moonlight, amongst the tents.   
"Who are they?" the Lizard King asked, with interest. The buck was dressed as a soldier of Elhorn's army, but the doe was dressed like she was going to a formal party. She only needed a glass of chardonnay to complete the picture.   
"Huh?" Axel asked. He stared at the viewing crystal. "Oh, you mean her? Heh.. dunno what SHE'S doing in the scrub all dolled up! That's Allisha the Snobby Princess of Elhorn. Quite a specimin, huh? Had my eye on her myself, once."   
Kimodo turned his head a little and stared at Axel with one yellow eye from beneath his cloak.   
"What do you know of this woman, my herald?" he asked.   
Axel was taken by surprise, and an expression was written on his face which clearly read "oops, I goofed", though the opossom didn't mention anything of the like. Instead, he simply replied "Oh.. nothing. Nothing really. Saw her once, is all."   
"You appear to have a strange grudge against this kingdom of Elhorn." Kimodo continued. "And you know more about it than you should, if you've never been there."   
Axel shot both hands up. "Hey, I cannot tell a lie, man!" he protested.   
"Very well." Kimodo murmured, looking back at the crystal view screen.   
"She is an attractive girl. It has been.. quite a while since I have viewed such a being. A delicate flower to balance my domineering onslaught. Yes.. I imagine she would make a teriffic addition to my kingdom. However.. I know not how I would ceize hold of her."   
"What are you gonna do?" Axel asked, in curiosity.   
The view on the crystal suddenly changed to a very different scene... a scene in Kimodo's own fortress. Sparkster the Rocket Knight was heading down one of the aisles.   
"I see my servant has returned." the Lizard King snarled. "Just as I expected he would. And I have the perfect job for him." 

Sparkster wandered warily down the bizarre corridor which was one of many in Kimodo's fortress. Suddenly the entire idea of returning here didn't sound so intelligent to him. But it was too late now. Nowhere to go but straight into the bowels of doom.   
The fortress was absolutely amazing.. an ominous, dark construction riddled with furnaces and crude machinary. Sparkster couldn't help but feel there was also a bizarre unexplainable power holding the entire thing together.   
"Who goes there?" A voice demanded.   
Sparkster spun around, and came face to face with a scrawny looking skink. He was wearing a turban and an evil grin.   
"I've been expecting you! HE said you'd return."   
"HE? You mean Kimodo?" Sparkster asked.   
"Got it in one!" the lizard replied. "'Name's Raja. The seer."   
"Seer, huh?" Sparkster asked. "Well, Nostradamus, I've come to speak to your Lizard King, how's about it?"   
"Of course you have.." Raja hissed. "Come right this way!" 

The Rocket Knight was led into the crystal room again. He instantly recognised it, but this time he wasn't knocked unconcious in order to be brought there. Evidently it was a place Kimodo could talk to people without risking getting close to them.   
"KIMODO!" Sparkster shouted. After a little delay, the Lizard King's face appeared in each and every crystal, including the huge one taking up the wall.   
"Welcome back to my domain..."   
"I've come to speak to you, Lizard." Sparkster announced.   
"Yess." Kimodo hissed back.   
"I won't allow you to take Elhorn, Kimodo, so I have a proposition for you."   
"Yess."   
"Surely you have other needs.. something you want other than kingdom apon kingdom."   
"Yess."   
"I propose a swap. If you spare Elhorn, I can give you whatever you want."   
"Yess."   
Sparkster suddenly realised that Kimodo had been agreeing with everything he said.   
"You... you have to spare Elhorn." he highlighted. "Leave it alone. And everyone in it."   
"Of course."   
"You're being too easy!" Sparkster complained, unsure of whether this concept should make him angry, relieved or suspicious.   
"It just happens that I was thinking about that very idea!" Kimodo insisted. "An exchange... your kingdom will remain untouched if you give me something I want."   
"What might that be?" Sparkster asked. No sooner did he finish speaking, and the screen changed again.. the scene in EVERY crystal changed to that of an elaborately dressed doe.. she was talking to somebody who wasn't shown and laughing at an unknown joke.   
"Hey, hey, hey!" Sparkster protested. "You're not telling me you want HER are you?"   
"That is exactly what I'm telling you.." Kimodo's voice boomed.   
"That's not fair!" Sparkster wailed. "I can't do that! I didn't say anything about a PERSON!"   
"YOU TOLD ME YOU COULD GIVE ME WHAT I WANTED." Kimodo's voice shrieked, his face exploding onto the crystal screen again.   
"SHE is what I want, Rocket Knight! She is my ONLY craving other than your pitiful and stupid, snivelling, undeserving and wretched Elhorn! If I had the princess, you would go back to your normal life and I would go away and take my business elsewhere. But if you DON'T..."   
The scene in the crystals changed to a vision of Elhorn going up in smoke.. houses burning.. PEOPLE burning.. fire engulfing everything, and lizards.. squirming, attacking lizards taking over everything.   
"ENOUGH!" Sparkster screamed.   
But the visions continued.   
"The princess would live!" Kimodo insisted. "Your choices are really quite simple in the scheme of things! Either the princess comes with me and lives, or EVERYBODY dies, INCLUDING the princess! Should I be more blunt, Sparkster, or have you gotten the idea?"   
"I can't give somebody to you, Kimodo.." Sparkster insisted. "I don't know what you'll do with her."   
"If you don't, she DIES!" Kimodo growled. "You've seen my army! Hell, you've seen YOUR army! That little band of half-pint cowards you're following.. do you doubt my powers? Do you seriously believe you have a third choice?"   
Sparkster opened his mouth, then closed it again.   
"You're a reasonable kid, Sparkster, I know." Kimodo said. "You asked me what I wanted and I told you. I'm not telling anybody else either, Rocket Knight - the power is in your hands. You alone have the power to stop the massacre of your people. Now, unless you're desperately in love with this woman, which I sense you are not.."   
"Far from it." Sparkster grumbled.   
"..It is to be expected that your choice is easy. I'm going to give you the night to think about it because it really doesn't matter to me either way. No matter what happens, I get something I want. The choice is yours to get something YOU want. Then it shall be... how do you say it? WIN-WIN."   
Sparkster sighed and shook his head. "I feel like I'm being manipulated."   
"You're being shown the way." Kimodo corrected. Then all the crystals in the room began to glow. Sparkster uttered a startled cry and stumbled back, but the light surrounded him - knocked him out. He lay unconcious on the floor. Raja walked in to drag him out. 

Axel, who had been listening to the entire conversation, frowned in disapproval.   
"Sire.." he called. "Can I talk to you for JUST a sec?"   
"What's wrong, my herald?" Kimodo asked, still watching Sparkster being dragged out on his big screen.   
"It's about this whole deal." Axel admitted. "I don't really like the way it's turning out. It seems like you're suddenly working WITH Sparkster, and Elhorn is actually looking pretty darn SAFE at the moment."   
"Did you just question me?" Kimodo inquired.   
"Well.... no, not really.." Axel replied.   
"Did you just say NO to me?" Kimodo added.   
"No.." Axel replied. "I.. I mean YES! I mean.. n... y..... not at YOU, sire!"   
Kimodo suddenly spun around and hurriedly marched across to the stammering opossum. Axel didn't have any time to evade - The Lizard King grabbed him forcefully by the neck and threw him hard into a wall. Axel let out a little choking sound and swung his legs - which were hanging two feet off the ground.   
"YOU ARE GROWING EXTREMELY TIRESOME, LITTLE RAT!!" Kimodo screamed, a blue flame seeming to engulf his body.   
"I AM DOING WHAT I CHOOSE TO DO, AND IF YOU QUESTION WHAT I CHOOSE TO DO, YOU WILL DIE! It seems to me that you have something against this Sparkster and the kingdom of Elhorn, or else you wouldn't want them destroyed so badly! BUT I DO NOT SERVE YOU, AXEL RINGTAIL, YOU SERVE ME!!! AND IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING AGAINST THAT I WILL FEED YOUR ROTTING DISEMBOWELED CORPSE TO THE DOGS, IS THAT PERFECTLY UNDERSTOOD??"   
Axel choked again and managed a nod. Kimodo threw him to the ground. "Petty weak stupid mortal infidel." the giant lizard grumbled under his breath as he walked away.   
"Elhorn will be erased.." Axel muttered, rubbing his neck. He coughed loudly. "I'll make sure of it. And Sparkster too." 

CHAPTER THREE: 

Sparkster held his father's hand in his own, and a tear ran down his cheek. His father looked up at him sadly.   
"You'll recover.. it'll be over soon." Sparkster assured him.   
"I'm afraid it won't." the older opossum replied. "It hurts so much, and I can see the end is near. Where is Axel?"   
"Axel... didn't show up." Sparkster replied. "He's hopeless. Dad, you'll live through this. You live through everything."   
"I'm going to tell you something." the older opossum said, shaking his head. "After I pass away.. the code to my safe is 5-5-7-8-3-4-1. My will is inside."   
"No, Dad..."   
"Spark, listen. I want the whole.. *COUGH* The whole family present for the reading. You, Axel, your uncles and aunts....."   
"Dad.."   
"The whole family. I'll be gone soon. My will is important."   
"Dad.. can I get you anything?"   
"..."   
"Dad... Dad? Dad.... DAD..... DAD...." 

"DADDY!" Sparkster screamed, shooting up.   
He was lying in a tent. He had been dreaming, and crying in his sleep. He wiped a tear out of his eye and un-zipped the tent. It would be morning soon. He had a lot of thinking to do.   
"What choice do I have?" he asked himself.   
"Go up against the Lizard King? Fight a man who can and does render me unconcious with a snap of his fingers?"   
"What would your father do?" another part of his mind asked.   
"Make the choice that would benefit everyone." he replied to himself.   
"But what if no choice benefits everyone?"   
Sparkster sat down.   
"Who cares about that snobby deer?" another part of his mind - quite a devilish one - asked. "Who would notice if you gave her away?"   
"The King, for one." Sparkster responded aloud. "And Sacchius Bardot would impale me."   
"Who needs to know?" his mind pressured. "Who needs to know it was you?"   
"I don't like you." Sparkster announced to the part of his mind who was tempting him. "You're like that little devil who whispers in peoples' ears on cartoons."   
"WHAT OTHER CHOICE?" his mind boomed.   
"If you attack, it means death. If you flee, it means death. If you fail to hand over the princess, it means death. If you hand over the princess, NOBODY dies."   
"But it's wrong!" Sparkster complained.   
"Why?"   
"Because I can't trade a person into slavery to save a kingdom."   
"Who said anything about slavery?"   
"It's the most likely scenario."   
"Why?"   
"Because Kimodo is evil."   
"Fair enough. But is death better than slavery?"   
"I don't know."   
"Won't you effectively be saving everybody, including the Princess, by doing this?"   
"There's some other way."   
"What?"   
"I don't know. There always is."   
"That's clutching on straws."   
"I've been clutching on straws ever since the Lizard King came here."   
"Well now you can release them."   
Sparkster looked up at the moonlight, then turned his head to face the largest tent - reserved for the 'important ones'. He picked up a handful of rocks and sticks. 

"Sacchius.." Allisha said with a yawn.   
Sacchius Bardot opened his eyes. "Yeah honey?"   
"I thought I heard a noise outside." the princess complained.   
The buck in the sleeping bag next to Allisha's simply smacked his lips and snorted tiredly. "Wildlife." he replied.   
That satisfied the princess, and she rolled over and closed her eyes. Bardot did the same, but he was awoken from his half-sleep by a noise outside - a twig being broken. Then another.   
"What if it's a bear or something?" Allisha asked.   
"We're safe." Bardot assured her. "Bears can't unzip tents. There was more silence. Then another twig snapped.   
"What if it's an invading army from the Lizards?" Allisha asked, a tinge of fear wavering in her voice.   
Bardot got out of bed and unsheathed his sword - more because his fiancee was interrupting his sleep than because she had a point. He unzipped the tent and stepped out.   
There was darkness everywhere, and the morning dew was just beginning to gather. He looked left and right, but he couldn't see anything. Another twig snapped - he ran to find its source. Whatever it was, it seemed on a mission to snap every stick in the forest.   
The buck heard a 'thump' sound, and spun around, sword raised. Nothing was to be seen. He slowly walked in the direction of the sound. All he could see was a rock. Then another thump came from further away. He ran to it, squinting in the dark, prepared for anything. What he got was nothing. No movement anywhere. What could possibly be making those sounds and getting away so fast? He could only find rocks. But rocks don't....   
He came to a sudden realization. He was being led-on. The noises were rocks - being thrown to distract him, get him out of the way. It wasn't a bear.   
Another thump, but there was no way to tell in the darkness where the stones were being thrown from. He walked around in circles, desperately trying to catch some movement in the shadows. But there was total silence now. Bardot trundled back to camp, alert and empty-handed. He wandered around for a while trying to find his tent. It took him a while to realise that there WAS no tent - just a bundle of ropes, tent-pegs, and Allisha Doe's sleeping bag in a mud puddle. 

Axel Ringtail paced around nervously. His mouve armour lay on the ground, and the fringe of his hair - long and red - fell down over the eyes in his downturned head.   
"This has gone wrong." he complained. "That foolish lizard isn't going to help me destroy Elhorn. And why the heck not? He's done away with every other kingdom we've come across. But bloody Murphy's Law, as soon as he gets to Elhorn, 'oh gee, I'd rather get me a piece of that princess than help you get revenge, Axel!'."   
The opossum looked around. "Looks like its time to do some studying, huh? There must be some reason old Kimodo wants Elhorn.. he just hasn't realised it yet." 

"WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?" the princess demanded from inside the tent, which now acted as a sack.   
Sparkster was dragging her through the dirt and grass. He didn't reply.. if he was going to do this, he didn't want her to know it was him. A figure stepped from the darkness. It was Raja, the skink from Kimodo's army.   
"How did you know what...?" the Rocket Knight stammered.   
"The Lizard King knows everything." Raja hissed. "And he knew what you were doing. I'll take it from here. Detrious Kimodo says that Elhorn is safe from his wrath, thanks to you, and the princess will be well looked-after."   
"Good.." Sparkster replied, handing the writhing sack over to the lizard.   
"See to it."   
The sun rose. 

You could have an army.   
You could have all the defence capabilities of every world in your supercluster of galaxies. You could practice every day of your life and tell yourself over and over that it's gonna be bad, it's gonna be loud, it's gonna be terrifying. You could spend your entire life, dedicated to waiting for it to happen.   
But whatever you do, nothing could fully prepare you for the King's outburst when he learned that his daughter was missing.   
Sparing the gorey details, the old buck was upset. VERY upset. He yelled swear words that Sparkster had never even heard before. Sometimes what he was saying was drowned out by his crying. Finally he hyperventilated and had to be taken from the room.   
"I lost her..." Sacchius Bardot lamented. "I let myself be led."   
Then he turned to Sparkster. "AND IT WAS YOUR FAULT!!"   
Sparkster just shook his head. It was all he could do. He couldn't deny it, because it HAD been his fault. Even more than Bardot imagined. The buck was only taunting him, but nobody knew that it really WAS his fault - directly. And he couldn't confirm it either, for his own sakes. So he just shook his head as Bardot flung the blame of everything in his direction.   
"WHERE WERE YOU, Mister protector of Elhorn? WHERE WERE YOU?"   
"Away protecting Elhorn." Sparkster thought.   
"Now that monster's got her.." Bardot said in a low voice. "Thank God he decided to go away and leave us alone. With no help from you, Sparky."   
"With ALL the help from me." Sparkster thought. He dare not say any of these things out loud.   
"DID YOU HEAR ME, SHORTS?" Bardot demanded. He marched over to Sparkster and shoved him hard. The opossom snapped back like lightning, unsheathed his sword and held it against Bardot's neck.   
"SHUT UP." he commanded. "You have absolutely no idea what I've been through, Sacchius. If anything you should be blaming yourself. You and your big-shot macho-macho attitude. Where were YOU?"   
"Sparkster! What's gotten into you?" a voice asked. Both brawlers turned to see Chaplain Grace, the royal Minister, a tall and lanky skunk. In one hand he held his personal Bible (he probably even slept with that book on his pillow) and in the other he held his glasses.   
"Neither of you are to blame for uh.. what happened to Miss... uh, Doe. The good thing is, while this IS a.. uh, tragedy, the uh Lizard King has moved on."   
"Shut up you weenie." Bardot commanded. "The Lizard has moved on with my fiance."   
"He's right you know, Sacchius." Sparkster said, disagreeably.   
"Well, I certainly am glad ONE of you agrees with me." Grace announced. "I don't enjoy being called a.. uh, 'weenie'."   
"Who invited you?" Bardot demanded.   
"Lets just drop it." Sparkster said, pushing past both the fighter and the minister.   
"I'm sick of the whole affair. It's OVER." 

"This isn't over." Axel snarled.   
The opossum rapped on the wall of Kimodo's throne room, to get the lizard's attention. The mighty shaman wasn't impressed by the intrusion - he was admiring his bound-and-gagged prisoner, Princess Allisha Doe of Elhorn, who was crying uncontrollably.   
"At least you had the manner to knock." Kimodo snarled. "This better be important, herald. Speak."   
"Lord Kimodo.." Axel began. "I thought I might persuade you.. in your best interests, of course, to change your decision about leaving Elhorn.."   
"Pointless." Kimodo snapped back. "My decision is made. Don't waste breath."   
"Sire... the destruction of this one last city can bring you total political power!" Axel stated, jumping to the point. "Statistically, you already own forty-five percent of this sector!"   
"I need no political power, Axel, I have a militia beyond comparison!" the Lizard King interrupted.   
"But it isn't COMPLETE power, sire. The destruction of Elhorn might just cause you to become.. well, the ruler of the continent. And it's a darn big continent."   
"I keep my word." Kimodo said.   
"You keep your word to a mere mortal 'possum in a clown suit?" Axel asked. "Sire, he was your tool.... when your hammer wears out, do you toss it back in the toolbox? No sir, you toss it away."   
Kimodo side-eyed him. "I do not use a hammer." he growled.   
"I was kinda hoping you'd see the metaphor.." Axel admitted.   
Kimodo thought about this for a long time. Then he stood up.   
"We are going back to Elhorn." he announced. "They think we left them. This will be a surprise attack."   
Axel, who had slipped away during these last moments, chuckled to himself.   
"Gosh-DARN I'm good!" 

CHAPTER FOUR: 

Elhorn most definately didn't see the attack. Kimodo invaded, and Kimodo conquored. All amidst the insane laughter of a twisted Rocket Knight with red hair and purple armour.   
Sparkster was of little help against the invading troops. There were simply too many. He focused his attention to the protection of the Royals. Kimodo's tactics were different than expected. He didn't kill everyone, as he threatened. He killed who he needed, and imprisoned the rest. And their troops got closer and closer to the palace.   
"Ooooh this is the End Times I swear it!" Chaplain Grace muttered, holding his Good Book as a shield against a foe who hadn't even reached him yet.   
"I will not fear, fear is the mind killer, fear is the great darkness that swallows all life, I will not fear, fear is the mind killer, fear..."   
"Get a hold of yourself, will you?" Sacchius Bardot demanded. "Weenie."   
"We will never surrender.." the King insisted in a small voice. "Never.."   
"If we want to survive, we may not have a choice." Sparkster replied. He said little - his mind was clouded with hate for the lizard who broke his bargain.   
The palace doors burst open, and Detrious Kimodo himself stepped inside. "Homey." he commented. Then he spotted the King, shivering wreck that he was. Nevertheless, the old King approached him.   
"WE WILL NEVER SURRENDER!" he insisted.   
Kimodo raised his scepter - a long stick with a glowing orb - and knocked the King upside the head with it. He hooked the Crown with the same stick.   
"Silence, Winston Churchill." he commanded. Then he took it upon himself to sit on the Royal Throne, placing the Crown on his head.   
"YOU WRETCH!" Sparkster screamed. "LEAVE US, YOU SNIVELING COWARD! LEAVE US AND RETURN THE PRINCESS!!"   
Chaplain Grace held him back. "Not a good idea to call the big guy a coward, good fellow.." he stammered. Sparkster shook himself out of the skunk's grip.   
"AAH, the Princess!" Kimodo marvelled. "Wonderful piece of work, she is. Thanks to you, Rocket Knight. After all, she'd still be with this stumpy old fool if you hadn't helped me!"   
Sparkster began to sweat uncontrollably.   
"What are you talking about?" the King, picking himself up, demanded. In reply, Kimodo simply held up a large crystal. There was a vision inside it.. a picture. A picture of Sparkster, a little movie showing how the Rocket Knight bundled the Princess up in her own tent and kidnapped her.   
"What... trickery is this?" the King gaped.   
"It's all true." Kimodo assured him. "My good friend Sparkster and I have been plotting against you and the Princess for quite some time. He was my 'man on the inside'."   
"I WAS NOT!" Sparkster screamed, in a fit of rage. "I WAS NOT I WAS NOT I WAS NOT!! I GAVE YOU THE PRINCESS SO THAT THE REST OF THE KINGDOM COULD GO FREE!! GO FREE!!"   
"You gave my daughter over to this MADMAN?" the King demanded. "DID YOU?" Sparkster looked at his king sadly. His eyes were wet and leaking.   
"I.... I thought it was the right choice." he replied. "I wasn't working for Kimodo, I was working for Elhorn."   
"Well, I see no evidence of it." the King replied coldly. "You were working for him as much as anybody. You turned over my beloved daughter to an evil.... THING. If you hadn't, she would be with us right now."   
"You're......" Sparkster was about to say 'wrong', but somehow a different word came out.   
"Right." He closed his eyes and sniffled. "From my first meeting with this maniac, I was making the wrong decisions. I was following his plans. I tried to play the hero, and now I'm the villain."   
"I no longer see the wisdom in your father's choice to give you the position of Rocket Knight." the King said. "I hereby override his decision, and disband you from whatever kingdom I have left. You are.... useless." What hit the hardest was that the old man didn't say "useless to me" or "useless in this situation". He said that Sparkster was "useless". The Rocket Knight's esteem, ego and pride drained away at that moment like dirty water in a bathtub. He concluded his business officially - by saluting and sheathing his sword.   
"It has been a pleasure to serve." he said, then turned to the window.   
"SPARKSTER, MY HERALD!" Kimodo shouted. "Leaving so quickly? I have work for you, even if this old fool doesn't!"   
"Our business ends here." Sparkster replied. He turned on his rocket pack, which burst into operation.   
"STOP HIM!" the Lizard King demanded. But his troops couldn't catch the armoured Rocket Knight, who blasted out of the palace leaving a puff of smoke. 

Outside, as Kimodo's troops took over, Axel Ringtail leaned on a wall. He briefly noticed a streak of blue in the sky, leaving Elhorn. He frowned.   
"I will follow you to the ends of the planet." he snarled. Then grinned. "Dear brother." 

TO BE CONTINUED

   [1]: http://www.stas.net/1/shax/Virtualden.html
   [2]: mailto:Shaxr@angelfire.com



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